Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday

Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday:

Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday

(Photo: Keith Matheny)

The union representing Detroit Public Schools' more than 2,600 teachers called for a district-wide sick-out on Monday, which could potentially shut down all the schools serving more than 46,000 students.

The action, announced Sunday, comes one day after DPS emergency manager Judge Steven Rhodes told the union that unless the state Legislature approves sending more money to the district, there is not enough in the coffers to pay teachers their already-earned salaries after June 30. Summer school and extended special education services would also be canceled.

Teachers said Sunday they were assured by DPS that the $48.7 million in a bill signed by Gov. Rick Snyder last month to fund the district through June 30 would cover summer pay for the approximately two-thirds of district teachers who signed up for the plan, which allows for paychecks year-round instead of just during the school year.

 "The district’s promises are no longer worth the paper that they are printed on," Terrence Martin, executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said during a hastily called news conference where officials announced they were urging teachers to call in sick Monday to disrupt operations.

"While we recognize that this puts Detroit’s parents and communities in a difficult situation, the district’s broken promises and gross negligence leave us no choice."

DPS on Sunday night still had not announced any school closures, said spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski.

Martin said teachers will demonstrate Monday in front of the Fisher Building, demanding "the pay we have earned" and a third-party audit of DPS spending.

"We would like to go through the district’s books and find out where the money has been going," union interim president Ivy Bailey said.

The union plans an emergency meeting Tuesday night, where it will hold a voice vote "to authorize a major collective action," followed by secret ballot votes in schools on Wednesday and Thursday, said Martin.

Union officials did not specify if their collective action could include a strike — which has technically been illegal for teachers, police, fire and other municipal workers in Michigan since 1947, but have still occurred over the years.

"You’re telling people to come to work, but we aren’t necessarily going to pay you, that’s a lockout. And we have to be able to respond to what we see as a lockout," said union administrator Ann Mitchell.

DPS, which has been under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday:

How charter schools are dodging Colorado laws | The Colorado Independent

How charter schools are dodging Colorado laws | The Colorado Independent:

How charter schools are dodging Colorado laws

Charter schools have been using waivers to get out of teaching comprehensive sexual health classes, evolution, state mandated hiring and firing practices, substitute teacher policies and many other rules. Who’s watching? Nobody.

Educators say people without college degrees, including high schoolers, are teaching in Pre-K through fifth grade classes at the Community Leadership Academy, a publicly funded charter school in Commerce City.

At the Golden View Classical Academy, in Golden, students are learning that real marriages are just between men and women, and that condoms are ineffective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases. As for evolution, forget it. It’s not in Golden View’s curriculum.

Though these educational practices seem to defy Colorado law, charter schools have found a legal workaround, and many Democratic and Republican lawmakers are looking the other way. After all, charters have been the darlings of education reformers from both parties for more than 20 years.

In 1993, Colorado’s first two charter schools enrolled just 187 students. Now 226 charter schools educate more than 108,000 students statewide, making up roughly 12 percent of the total K-12 public school enrollment.

Though hundreds of laws govern public schools, many of those rules are being waived for charters both by school districts and the state Board of Education.

Currently, the Board of Education automatically grants 18 waivers involving laws related to benefits, hiring and firing at charter schools. The state makes this process easy because nearly every charter school requests these exceptions.

Golden View Classical Academy.
Photo by Derec Shuler

The Board also grants non-automatic waivers, which require charter schools to explain why they should be given a pass on rules that apply to all other schools. That’s how Golden View Classical Academy dodged state sex-ed requirements.

Individual school districts set additional policies for how charter schools obtain waivers. Jefferson County, for example, offers 42 automatic waivers and dozens more non-automatic ones. Non-automatic waivers must include a replacement plan explaining the rationale for the exception and how it is tied to the school’s mission, how the school will meet the law’s intent and how the waiver’s impact will be evaluated.

In JeffCo, replacement plans must be submitted when charters turn in contract applications.

But seven JeffCo charter schools’ waiver applications reviewed by The Colorado Independent included incomplete replacement plans, and in 10 cases, blank sheets of paper with nothing but the title of the district policy where the plan should be. All but one of the applications were for five-year contract renewals with the district.

Some charters simply cut and paste answers from waiver applications submitted by other schools. Addenbrooke Academy of Lakewood, for example, copied replacement plans from Golden View Classical of Golden. In three instances, the name of Golden View mistakenly appears in its charter contract renewal application.

Montessori Peaks in Littleton submitted blank sheets of paper instead of replacement plans for some district waivers.

In Golden, Free Horizon Academy – which applied for dozens of waivers — merely referred to its employee handbook or school policy manual in its replacement plans. Yet the word “waiver” never appears in the manual as it applies to district policies, and there is no justification or plan for evaluating waivers, as the district requires.

Charter schools claim to educate students better than traditional schools. One reason cited: They have more flexibility in dealing with state and How charter schools are dodging Colorado laws | The Colorado Independent:

Newark’s school mystery–political theater or reality? |

Newark’s school mystery–political theater or reality? |:

Newark’s school mystery–political theater or reality?

Christie–he tells Baraka Newark has enough money

What is going on in Newark?

On Tuesday, the city’s mayor, Ras Baraka, blasted Gov. Chris Christie for an impending 6 percent local property tax increase  because of hat he said was poor management of the state-operated school system, a criticism that provoked an angryresponse from Christie. Yet, just a day later, on Wednesday, the school board adopted the state regime’s  $1 billion budget with the big tax increase still there, because, said its newly elected president, Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson, Baraka would come up with $9.6 million to fill the budget hole–and ultimately prevent the tax increase.

And how did this fiscal miracle come to pass? No one is saying.

Is this political theater–or reality?

Baraka tells the governor he’s responsible for tax increase

Keep in mind that the school board–officially entitled the Newark School Advisory Board–did not have to pass the state regime’s budget and its members Tuesday had said they wouldn’t. It could have rejected it, as it has in the past,  or taken no action at all–which some board members wanted to do.  But the board members apparently learned something the residents of the city did not–and, for the moment, at least, they’re not telling the people who elected them. They voted unanimously for the spending plan.

Baskerville-Richardson says she cannot comment on the budget mystery.

“I’ll be able to say more later,” she said, “but I can’t say anything now.”

Frank Baraff, Baraka’s press officer, also would not comment–except to say the $9.6 million Baraka promised to fill the budget hole without increasing taxes was Newark’s school mystery–political theater or reality? |:

40 Reasons to Honor Teachers in 2016

40 Reasons to Honor Teachers in 2016:

40 Reasons to Honor Teachers in 2016

Last year I made this list in honor of all teachers for teacher appreciation week.

It is that time of year again! So, I’d like to wish all my teacher friends a wonderful week! I hope you can focus on the great jobs that you do despite any problems that come your way.

I added a couple more points about being appreciative for teachers.

Please feel free to add to this list in the comment section.

1. Teachers in public school teach all children—they reject no one.
2. Teachers choose teaching because of their subject and mostly because they like the students.
3. Teachers don’t pick their careers for the money.
4. Their teaching is free (well except for AP).
5. Many teachers pay-out-of-pocket for materials.
6. Teachers protect their students.
7. Teachers support parents and can be a great back-up.
8. Teachers encourage students to do their best.
9. They take students on exciting field trips.
10. Teachers create interesting lesson plans.
11. They decorate their classrooms even in the poorest schools.
12. Each teacher has a different and interesting personality.
13. Teachers listen and help solve problems.
14. Teachers correct students so they don’t make fools out of themselves.
15. They make students laugh.
16. Teachers help students plan for the future.
17. They evaluate student work.
18. Teachers study to understand how to be good teachers.
19. Teachers give students paper and writing tools when they forget to bring their own.
20. Teachers connect families to40 Reasons to Honor Teachers in 2016:

Please Support NPE’s Political Action Fund! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Please Support NPE’s Political Action Fund! | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Please Support NPE’s Political Action Fund!

The Network for Public Education has two organizations.

One is tax-deductible and non-political. That is the Network for Public Education, which advocates for public schools and teachers and against high-stakes testing and privatization by research and conferences. NPE is recognized by the IRS as a c(3) organization.

The other is the Network for Public Education Action Fund, which engages in political action. NPE Action endorses candidates and actively supports political efforts to advance our agenda of free public education for all and better education for all. NPE Action Fund is recognized by the IRS as a c(4), meaning that it is not tax-deductible.

Both funds need your support.

At our annual conference a few weeks ago, we have announced the creation of memberships for the NPE Action Fund. This will give us the resources to help candidates who fight for better education for all.Please consider becoming a member and supporting our advocacy for children and real education.

BE A PART OF THE ACTION! Please Support NPE’s Political Action Fund! | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Student test scores have stalled nationally. What can be done about it? - LA Times

Student test scores have stalled nationally. What can be done about it? - LA Times:

Student test scores have stalled nationally. What can be done about it?

  the early 2000s, Mark Schneider watched American students get slightly better at math and reading, one year after the next.

It was the height of the Bush administration, with No Child Left Behind in full swing. That was the law that required schools to regularly test their students in reading and math and sometimes face consequences based on their scores.

Schneider, then an administration education official, got used to presiding over good tidings. "It was a good news story," he recalled. "It was good for the country. How could anyone be against increased performance for minorities?"

He left the administration in 2008, and since then, as an independent researcher and a vice president at the American Institutes for Research, he's watched the results from afar, and they haven't been as good. In recent years, performance in reading and math has stagnated. The trend continues, with the release last week of math and reading scores for high school seniors.

"We're stalled," he said. "That's the bottom line."

Kyle Kim

From 2013 to 2015, reading scores for high school seniors dipped (from 288 to 287 out of 500), while math scores also went down a point (from 153 to 152 out of 300). "We're not making any progress," Schneider said. He had the same concern last fall when the government released test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders, which showed a similar pattern.

So why have Americans hit an academic wall? Can it be broken?

Schneider used to be commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the government arm charged with a loaded job: figuring out what students know, whether it's enough, and telling their parents and taxpayers how smart, or dumb, they are.

Primarily, the federal government does that through one test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The idea was simple: Create a device that purely assesses what students know, as opposed to measuring the different advantages they might have.

NAEP is now said to be the gold standard of exams. The results have no stakes for test takers or teachers — it doesn't affect funding or college admissions — so there's little incentive to game, cheat or spend hours drilling its material.

The creators of NAEP have long said that their goal lines are "aspirational." In plain English, that means that the test is Student test scores have stalled nationally. What can be done about it? - LA Times:

Paying For America's Schools: Is There A Better Way? : NPR

Paying For America's Schools: Is There A Better Way? : NPR:
Is There A Better Way To Pay For America's Schools?

Big Education Ape: K-12 Spending per Student by State [Rankings] http://bit.ly/1rGHi2U

Big Education Ape: Local education inequities across U.S. revealed in new Stanford data set | Stanford News http://bit.ly/1NHGhBf

 The Kansas Supreme Court gave state lawmakers an ultimatum:

Make school funding more equitable by June 30, or it will consider shutting down the state's public schools.

Since then, things have gotten ugly.

Lawmakers followed up with a plan — to make it easier to impeach Supreme Court judges who attempt to "usurp the power" of the Legislature or governor.

Then came a plan to address the court's concerns over school funding: Send a little more money to roughly two-dozen of the state's poorest districts without taking money away from other districts or raising taxes.

The plaintiff districts have already responded to the plan, calling it a "shell game."

It's unclear if the Kansas Supreme Court will be satisfied.

What is clear is that the politics of school funding can be bitter

Over the past two weeks, the NPR Ed Team has taken a hard look at how we pay for public schools in the U.S. In Part 1 of our School Money series, we mapped the consequences of a funding system that favors affluent districts.

In Part 2, we unpacked the difference a dollar can — and cannot — make in the classroom, finding compelling evidence that money, spent wisely and consistently, can improve the lives and outcomes of disadvantaged students.

This week, we grapple with the politics of school money, asking:

Is there a better way to pay for our schools?

The answer requires that we do two things: explore the challenges to change, and spotlight a few ideas that could lead to a more balanced system.

What follows is a wrap-up of our reporting. For nearly every name and place, you'll find a hyperlink to more.

Like this one, for the latest on the school money showdown in Kansas.

The TABOR Trade-Off

First, the challenges. In a word: taxes.

In 1992, Colorado voters had had enough, no longer trusting state lawmakers to spend their tax dollars wisely.

They amended the state's constitution with something called the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR.

It required that voters, not lawmakers, have the final say on tax increases, and it capped tax revenue. Anything the state raised over that cap — typically in boom years — would be refunded to taxpayers.

TABOR's effect on Colorado's schools has been severe.

Its cap on property tax revenue limits how much money districts can raise locally. And by capping income tax revenue, the law also limits the state's ability to help schools make up the difference. A one-two punch.

"I don't think people on average knew what it meant, especially long-term," says Tracie Rainey with the Colorado School Finance Project, a nonprofit research group.

Today, the state's economy is booming. The unemployment rate is just 3 percent. And, thanks to TABOR, taxpayers are on track to get $156 million back from the state.

But Rainey says Colorado's schools are struggling more than ever.

"They have outdated technology, larger class sizes. They've lost the opportunity to offer certain programs. They can't retain teachers. They can't attract teachers," says Rainey. The list goes on.

In 2013, according to Education Week, the state spent roughly $2,500 less per student than the national average. That ranks Colorado, the nation's 14th richest state, below two of the Paying For America's Schools: Is There A Better Way? : NPR:

Media Matters: Reporting on Corporate Reform and Omitting Walton, Gates, and Broad | deutsch29

Media Matters: Reporting on Corporate Reform and Omitting Walton, Gates, and Broad | deutsch29:

Media Matters: Reporting on Corporate Reform and Omitting Walton, Gates, and Broad

Pam Vogel is the education program director of the nonprofit, Media Matters. She has been with Media Matters since August 2015. Her previous experience includes four months in 2014 as an intern in the office of Vice President Joe Biden. For another six months in 2014, Vogel interned at the Clinton Foundation. Vogel graduated from Whitesboro High School (NY) in 2008; Vasser College in 2012, and Teachers College in 2014.

 Pam Vogel

On April 27, 2016, Vogel published this piece for Media Matters, entitled, “Here Are The Corporations And Right-Wing Funders Backing The Education Reform Movement: A Guide To The Funders Behind A Tangled Network Of Advocacy, Research, Media, And Profiteering That’s Taking Over Public Education.”

Now, from the title, it sounds like Vogel’s piece is exhaustive– “a guide to the funders.” However, as one continues reading, one finds this summation:

Media Matters outlines the many overlapping connections in an echo chamber of education privatization advocacy groups, think tanks, and media outlets that are increasingly funded by a handful of conservative billionaires and for-profit education companies — often without proper disclosure.

Interestingly enough, Vogel’s “many overlapping connections” fails to include the Big Three corporate-reform-purchasing philanthropies: Gates, Walton, and Broad.

Amazing.

But she does include such notable names as the Scaife Foundations, Thomas A Roe Foundation, and Adolph Coors Foundation. (Tongue in cheek, my friends. Tongue in cheek.)

Also remarkable is that Vogel includes the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which has received to date $2.6 million from the Gates Foundation just to remain in existence (i.e., for “general operating support”). She also includes Stand for Children (to date, $17 million from Gates). Still, Vogel omits Gates.

What else is noteworthy is that Vogel includes Campbell Brown’s The 74 but omits Peter Cunningham’s Education Post (which is really Results in Education Foundation, or RIEF). These two peas share a pod, with Ed Post carrying articles originally fromThe 74 and The 74 offering the disclaimer, “Disclosure: The 74 sometimes partners with Education Post to share content.”

The 74‘s funders include the Walton Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, same as RIEF–uh– Ed Post.

In Vogel’s report, The 74 is shamed and Ed Post escapes.

In addition, Vogel makes no mention of the corporate reform money and proselyte funnel, Teach for America (TFA), which is Walton-Broad-Gates-funded ($5 million Media Matters: Reporting on Corporate Reform and Omitting Walton, Gates, and Broad | deutsch29:

Killing Ed | Charter Schools, Corruption, and the Gülen Movement in America

Killing Ed | Charter Schools, Corruption, and the Gülen Movement in America:

INTERVIEWS

Sharon Higgins

A researcher on the topic of charter school, Sharon and her husband raised two daughters who were educated in the public schools of Oakland, California. She is a vocal opponent to the privatization of public schools and a reliable source for information on the growth of the Gülen Movement and its schools in the USA. Sharon is a Co-Founder of the national organization, Parents Across America. Sharon’s research is found on her blog atcharterschoolscandals.blogspot.com

Dr. Diane Ravitch

One of the most well-respected authorities on education in the United States, Dr. Ravitch is a ardent critic of charter schools and the ‘reform’ movement. She is a Research Professor of Education at New York University and has lectured and consulted on educational topics for governments around the world. A native of Houston, she is a graduate of the public school system there. Dr. Ravitch is a prolific writer on education; her most recent book is “Reign of Error” about the failure of the education reform movement in America. Her popular blog is athttp://dianeravitch.net

Amy Warren

One of several teachers interviewed for KILLING ED who worked at a Gülen charter schools, Amy represents the poor treatment of teachers and others who work at these schools throughout America. Her heart-rending descriptions of wage and gender discrimination are similar to the many other educators interviewed who entered the teaching profession through these schools.

Mary Addi

A former teacher at a Gülen-affiliated charter school in Cleveland, Ohio. After witnessing serious problems at the school, Mary approached the media and outside agencies to seek help. She has appeared on 60 Minutes and local newscasts in an effort to educate the public about the problems of the Gülen Movement’s charter schools in the USA. Mary holds an MBA, a graduate teaching credential in Education, and an undergraduate degree in English. She is licensed to teach in both California and Ohio and is a regular contributing blogger to the website, www.charterschoolwatchdog.com.

Noel Hammatt

A former board member of the East Baton Rouge (Louisiana) school district, Noel has become a nationally known critic of the privatization of public education and the concurrent explosive growth of charter schools. He first encountered the charter schools of the Gülen Movement when the Kenilworth Science and Technology school opened in his neighborhood. His Twitter feed can be found at https://twitter.com/edtraveler

Dr. Shirl Gilbert

A respected educator and administrator at districts throughout the USA, Dr. Gilbert experienced first-hand the ‘worst case scenario’ of education reform at a local Gülen-affiliated charter school. Responsible for charter schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dr. Gilbert heard numerous complaints from teachers and parents which led him to investigate the numerous troubling problems at the Kenilworth Science and Technology charter school.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

As Chair of the Senate Education Finance Committee for the State of Texas, Dan was recently elected as Lieutenant Governor. Perhaps the most powerful politician in one of the largest states in America, he is known for his unwavering political and financial support of charter schools in his state. Dan worked in media before entering politics and is a polished national spokesman for the ‘reform’ of public education.

David Dunn

The Executive Director of the Texas Charter Schools Association, a trade group, David represents the interests of taxpayer-funded charters in the state of Texas. He formerly worked for the Secretary of Education in Washington, DC in the administration of George W. Bush and was a lobbyist for school boards in Texas. The website for the TCSA can be found athttp://www.txcharterschools.org

Baris Terkoglu

Baris Pehlivan

Two Turkish journalists who published a book critical of the Gülen Movement in Turkey and paid a high price – over a year in prison for their writings. Never interviewed before in the USA, they explain about the infiltration of the police, judiciary and media in Turkey by followers of Fethullah Gülen and the consequences of those that question the group’s anti-democratic activities.

“Serhan”

Formerly in the inner circle of the Gülen Movement as it expanded from Turkey into Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union, “Serhan” is one of the few people who has extensive knowledge of this secretive Islamist group and its imam, Fethullah Gülen. “Serhan” lives in seclusion outside of the USA and remains a critic of the Movement’s activities taking place around the world.

“Mehmet”

A former follower of Fethullah Gülen, “Mehmet” was brought to the USA as one of the many teachers from Turkey who arrive on H1-B visas. Alarmed by what he experienced teaching at one of the Gülen Movement’s charter schools, he quit the school and went to the FBI, IRS and other government agencies with inside information on group’s questionable behavior. As a result, he was pursued by the Movement and falsely charged for drug trafficking by police in Turkey who are followers of Gülen.

Armagan Yilmaz

Organizer of protests against Fethullah Gülen at the imam’s compound in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Armagan and several of his friends were tortured by members of the Gülen Movement who were SWAT police officers in Turkey. Now living in New York, he is outraged by the growth of the Movement in his adopted country – and wants people in the USA to understand the dangers of this growing Islamist group.

Several interviewees requested that their identities remain anonymous to prevent retribution by the Gülen Movement.

 Killing Ed | Charter Schools, Corruption, and the Gülen Movement in America:

Arthur Goldstein: Teachers’ discipline toolkits, now lighter - NY Daily News

Arthur Goldstein: Teachers’ discipline toolkits, now lighter - NY Daily News:

Teachers’ discipline toolkits, now lighter: New rules make it harder to keep school order

MARY DIBIASE BLAICH

Things happen in the hallways

In Mayor de Blasio’s New York, when a kid curses you out in a crowded hallway, all you can do is call the kid’s parents. That’s what the new discipline code says.

Our job is already tough. You never know what’s going to happen when you’re face-to-face with 34 teenagers five times a day.

Over time, you develop strategies. When they work, you repeat them. Eventually you create a toolkit to create an environment in which students can learn. You learn what to do when they test you, which they do constantly. You learn which kids cannot be near which other kids. You learn when to speak up, and when to keep your thoughts to yourself.

Kids are unpredictable, and each one has a unique set of problems and triggers. It’s on you to create an environment of mutual respect: You respect them, they respect you, and they respect one another. It takes time, but once there is a positive culture, learning can take place.

Discipline is the last thing you do, the last place you go. But every student needs to know you will go there when it’s necessary, or your classroom will quickly become a chaotic mess. I consider it a personal defeat if I have to remove a student from the classroom.

The last time I did that it was because a girl threatened to beat up a boy, and I was absolutely persuaded she would do it. Removing her removed that possibility. The next day she was a little calmer.

In our school, kids aren’t supposed to wear hats. They aren’t supposed to use their phones without permission, and in my class, they don’t. (Well, they do, but if I give them a look they stop.)

The hallway is a different place altogether. I don’t know the kids in the hall. They don’t know me. I am not a stickler about rules in the hallway. But some things are beyond the pale. A colleague of mine, a rather large man, saw a boy and a girl getting passionate and physical in the hallway. He asked them to go to class.

The boy instructed my colleague to perform a vulgar act that may or may not be possible. My colleague was able to handle it in a professional manner, but found the consequences for the kid’s act to be mild indeed.

Why? Because principals must now get explicit approval from the central Department of Education for suspensions involving student insubordination.

These are new regulations, brought to you by the kinder, gentler Chancellor Carmen Fariña — intended to lessen suspensions that disproportionately remove black and Latino kids from school.

The way things work on the front lines in school buildings, requiring approval Arthur Goldstein: Teachers’ discipline toolkits, now lighter - NY Daily News:

Exposed by CMD: KIPP's Efforts to Keep the Public in the Dark while Seeking Millions in Taxpayer Subsidies | PR Watch

Exposed by CMD: KIPP's Efforts to Keep the Public in the Dark while Seeking Millions in Taxpayer Subsidies | PR Watch:

Exposed by CMD: KIPP's Efforts to Keep the Public in the Dark while Seeking Millions in Taxpayer Subsidies 

By Lisa Graves and Dustin Beilke

Charter schools are big business, even when they are run by "non-profits" that pay no taxes on the revenue they receive from public taxes or other sources.

Take KIPP, which describes itself as a "national network of public schools."

KIPP (an acronym for the phrase "knowledge is power program") operates like a franchise with the KIPP Foundation as the franchisor and the individual charters as franchisees that are all separate non-profits that describe themselves as "public schools."

But how public are KIPP public schools?

Not as public as real or traditional public schools.

New documents discovered on the U.S. Department of Education's website reveal that KIPP has claimed that information about its revenues and other significant matters is "proprietary" and should be redacted from materials it provides to that agency to justify the expenditure of federal tax dollars, before its application is made publicly available.

So what does a so-called public school like KIPP want to keep the public from knowing?

1. Graduation and College Matriculation Rates

KIPP touts itself as particularly successful at preparing students to succeed in school and college.

Yet, it insisted that the U.S. Department of Education keep secret from the public the statistics about the percentage of its eighth graders who completed high school, entered college, and/or who completed a two-year or four-year degree.

A few years ago, professor Gary Miron and his colleagues Jessica Urschel and Nicholas Saxton, found that "KIPP charter middle schools enroll a significantly higher proportion of African-American students than the local school districts they draw from but 40 percent of the black males they enroll leave between grades 6 and 8," as reported by Mary Ann Zehr in Ed Week.

Zehr noted: "'The dropout rate for African-American males is really shocking,' said Gary J. Miron, a professor of evaluation, measurement, and research" at Western Michigan University, who conducted the national study.

Miron's analysis was attacked by KIPP and its allies, who said KIPP's success was not due to the attrition of lower performing students who leave the school or move to other districts. One of its defenders was Mathematica Policy Research, whose subsequent study was used to try to rebut Miron's analysis. (That name will be important momentarily.)

The Department of Education has been provided with the data about what percentage of KIPP students graduate from high school and go on to college, but it is helping KIPP keep that secret—despite the public tax dollars going to these schools and despite KIPP's claim to be operating what are public schools.

Real public schools would never be allowed to claim that high school graduation rates or college matriculation rates are "proprietary" or "privileged" or "confidential."

Why does the Education Department's Charter School Program "Office of Innovation and Improvement" defer to KIPP's demand to keep that information secret from the public?

Meanwhile, the KIPP Foundation regularly spends nearly a half million dollars a year ($467,594 at last count) on advertising to convince the public how great its public charters are using figures it selects to promote. No public school district in the nation has that kind of money to drop on ads promoting its successes.

2. Projected Uses of Federal Taxpayer Dollars (and Disney World?)

Even as KIPP was seeking more than $22 million from the federal government to expand its charter school network, it insisted that the U.S. Department of Education redact from its application a chart about how much money would be spent on personnel, facilities, transportation, and "other uses" under the proposed grant. KIPP also sought to redact the amount of private funding it was projecting.

The agency's compliant Office of Innovation and Improvement obliged KIPP.

However, after the grant was approved, KIPP did have to comply with IRS regulations to file a report on its revenues

- See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/04/13096/exposed-cmd-kipps-efforts-keep-public-dark-while-seeking-millions-taxpayer#sthash.E4vC0EFc.dpuf